Massacre, Heavenly Emperor Cries in Fear

"Mother."

Gu Changqing seemed frightened by the scene before him.

He kept searching through the corpses until, at last, he truly found those two familiar figures.

"Father... Mother."

Gu Changqing looked at his parents lying in pools of blood, his vision blurred by tears. He collapsed to the ground, weeping so hard he could not speak.

"Hahaha, so even the lofty Heavenly Emperor could be scared to tears. He had such a wretched side too."

Outside the bronze mirror, some cultivators laughed openly.

Because this was simply too satisfying.

The Gu Changqing of old had felt far too terrifying.

A single glance, a single expression, radiated endless majesty and made others dare not offend him.

The more the gathered cultivators had once feared him, the more secretly delighted they were now to see him in such a sorry state.

Yet such voices were only a minority.

More people merely pressed their lips together and said nothing...

They called themselves righteous, claiming to slay demons and uphold the Dao. How could they laugh at the sight of an entire family being massacred?

Besides, Gu Changqing was only four or five years old. A child who knew nothing of the world—how strong did they expect him to be?

"Was this why the Heavenly Emperor later became so brutal?"

Someone unconsciously murmured.

His parents had been killed, his village slaughtered. No wonder this Heavenly Emperor later became cruel and merciless, bathing living beings in blood!

"I admit that the Heavenly Emperor's childhood was indeed tragic, but that is not a reason for his fall."

"On the contrary, if it were me, I would only punish the wicked. I would never vent the misery of my childhood upon innocent people."

Ye Chen spoke with a supremely righteous air.

Before long, others chimed in agreement.

"Emperor Ye truly possesses a broad heart."

"Indeed. If everyone were like Emperor Ye, how wonderful this world would be."

"Come to think of it, these cultivators slaughtered mortals so brazenly. Were they not afraid of punishment from the Heavenly Palace?"

A cultivator spoke up.

Mortals and cultivators were, after all, two entirely different things; they could not even be considered as belonging to the same world.

In the present age, the Heavenly Palace had clear rules: cultivators were not permitted to slaughter mortals at will.

Should they involve themselves in the affairs of mortals, regardless of their cultivation, the Heavenly Palace would never tolerate it.

Everyone nodded as well.

As righteous cultivators, they naturally could not bear to see such a miserable scene of an entire family being exterminated.

Jiang Minghuang spoke at this moment. "In truth, the rule forbidding cultivators from killing mortals was also established after Gu Changqing inherited the position of Heavenly Emperor."

"In ancient times, the myriad races fought for supremacy."

"The authority of the Heavenly Palace had not yet reached the point of ruling the Three Realms. At most, it was merely a great ancient faction. In those days, mortals were like ants—who would care whether ants lived or died?"

"Only after Gu Changqing ascended the throne, his might pressing down upon the Three Realms, did he establish this rule. Only then did the lives of mortals come to be valued by the myriad races."

Hearing this, everyone was stunned for a moment.

No one had expected that this incomparably brutal Heavenly Emperor had once done such a thing.

"Changqing, run. Run quickly."

Gu Changqing heard his father mutter.

He ran over to pull his father up, only for his father to shove him to the ground. In a tone Gu Changqing had never heard before, he roared at him, "Run! Run quickly!"

Gu Changqing had never seen such an expression on his father's face. He was truly terrified.

Without looking back, he ran toward the outskirts of the village. Before him lay a mountain of corpses piled upon corpses.

"Ugh..."

As Gu Changqing ran wildly, he seemed to hear a faint sound coming from among the bodies beneath his feet.

He looked toward the sound.

It was a woman. There was a bloody hole in her neck, exposing the windpipe within.

The woman was not quite dead. Her mouth hung open, yet she could make no sound. Her lips moved, but blood only gurgled from her throat. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Gu Changqing, filled with endless pleading.

Gu Changqing looked down and only then noticed a baby still wrapped in swaddling clothes in the woman's arms.

He picked up the baby. At that moment, something like relief flashed through the woman's eyes, and she nodded at Gu Changqing with all her strength.

After that, the woman lay motionless, all life gone from her.

Gu Changqing's face turned deathly pale. He looked at the dead woman, then at the bodies sprawled one after another in pools of blood.

This place had become a land of death.

In the entire village, it seemed that only he and the swaddled baby in his arms remained—two lives.

He began running wildly once more, toward the edge of the village, toward that ruined temple.

"Could that baby be Miss Youwei?"

Everyone before the Bronze Ancient Mirror was stunned when they saw this.

Gu Youwei's eyelids trembled sharply.

Everyone knew that Gu Youwei was the Heavenly Emperor's biological younger sister.

But judging from the current situation, everyone in Gu Changqing's family had died. There had not been a single baby girl!

And the baby that had suddenly appeared in the scene was far too much of a coincidence!

"Could it be that the Heavenly Emperor and Gu Youwei were not biological siblings? That the Heavenly Emperor picked her up while fleeing?"

At that moment, this speculation arose in everyone's minds.

"No wonder the Heavenly Emperor was so ruthless toward Miss Youwei, even wanting to extract her Immortal Root. It seems he never regarded Miss Youwei as his real younger sister from the very beginning."

"But even if they weren't blood relatives, he was still utterly devoid of humanity!"

"They grew up together, after all. How could he possibly bring himself to do it?"

Ye Chen spoke at precisely the right moment, offering Gu Youwei comfort.

Gu Youwei was cold by nature. If he wanted to enter her heart, this was the perfect opportunity.

But Gu Youwei had no attention to spare for him.

Right now, Gu Youwei only felt her mind buzzing.

After learning that she was not Gu Changqing's kin, her emotions were incomparably complicated.

"Was it because I wasn't truly your younger sister that you wanted to poison me?"

The old Daoist in the ruined temple had already vanished to who knew where.

Gu Changqing hid behind a collapsed wooden beam in the ruined temple, his entire body trembling. The horrific scene in the village made him feel as if the sky had fallen.

Who knew how much time passed.

Gu Changqing heard the sound of footsteps crushing straw within the ruined temple.

He poked his head out to look. A blurry figure was staggering into the ruined temple.

Rumble.

Thunder suddenly boomed across the heavens, and a flash of lightning scattered all the gloom.

It was an utterly terrifying person.

His face was smeared with mud, his shoulder-length hair hung loose, and he looked like a crazed demon. He wore bloodstained clothes, blood dripping constantly from them, leaving a long trail of blood behind him.

Like a blood-bathed Asura descending into the mortal world.

Or like a Rakshasa walking among men!

Gu Changqing no longer dared to look at that face. He hurriedly hid behind the wooden beam, not even daring to breathe, and quietly covered the baby's mouth with his hand.

"Child, come out."

Gu Changqing heard that nightmare-like voice, stirring boundless terror within his heart.

The figure staggered and collapsed onto the ground.

Suppressing his fear, Gu Changqing slowly walked toward the figure.

Only when he reached the figure did Gu Changqing clearly see that it was the old Daoist.

"Y-you... what happened to you?" Gu Changqing asked.

The old Daoist did not answer. He merely looked at him with a strange expression, as though endless melancholy were hidden in those eyes.

After a long while, a trace of resolve seemed to flash through the old Daoist's gaze.

He took an ancient book from his robes and stuffed it into Gu Changqing's arms.

"This is a cultivation technique. It can allow you to embark on the path of cultivation. Remember, do not let anyone know that you are cultivating this technique."

"And remember, this technique must absolutely never be revealed before others!"

Gu Changqing had never seen anyone wear such a solemn expression.

He nodded instinctively.

The old Daoist continued, "This poor Daoist is about to die."

"I have lived a lonely life, without a single disciple beneath my knees. Now that I am about to depart this world, can you kowtow to me and call me Master?"

Gu Changqing could not understand the old Daoist's long-cherished wish. He simply did as he was told.

The Daoist had left a good impression on him—kind and gentle. Seeing that the old man was about to die as well, Gu Changqing felt a stirring in his heart.

He kowtowed once to the old Daoist and called him Master.

By then, the old Daoist was weak to the extreme. He waved toward the temple entrance, his breath as faint as a thread. "Go. Never come back."

Gu Changqing began to run wildly, racing out of the village and into the mountains.

His father and mother were dead. The old Daoist was dead. Overnight, it seemed as though everyone had died.

Just as the village was about to vanish from sight, Gu Changqing could not help turning back.

The village of old had become a bloody hell, corpses strewn everywhere, flames soaring into the sky...

"Father... Mother..."

After dissolving Cao Yuwei's attack this time, Mei Gongzi did not rush to counterattack. She merely stood where she was.

Cao Yuwei frowned slightly. Was this little girl's perception truly so keen? After he had forged armor from flames, he still had other methods at his disposal. If Mei Gongzi had pressed her attack, he was confident he could have used those methods to restrain her. But Mei Gongzi did not advance, forcing the ability he had poised to unleash to be cut off.

The battle blade slashed out again, its formidable blade intent several degrees stronger than before. Cao Yuwei moved with the blade, man and weapon becoming one as he charged straight at Mei Gongzi.

The Heavenly Secret Plume in Mei Gongzi's hand formed the Heavenly Mysterious Circle once more. With an instantaneous shift, she switched positions. While dispelling her opponent's attack, she also broke his lock-on. In the next instant, she was already somewhere else. A flash of golden-red light passed over Cao Yuwei's body. Had she not dodged quickly, another ability would undoubtedly have descended upon her.

A battle of attrition! It seemed she intended to wear Cao Yuwei down.

Yet no one questioned the origin of this ability. After all, the Peacock Demon Race's greatest innate gift was Stellar Transposition. Her technique shared the same wondrous effect through a different path.

After dissolving Cao Yuwei's attack this time, Mei Gongzi did not rush to counterattack. She merely stood where she was.

Cao Yuwei frowned slightly. Was this little girl's perception truly so keen? After he had forged armor from flames, he still had other methods at his disposal. If Mei Gongzi had pressed her attack, he was confident he could have used those methods to restrain her. But Mei Gongzi did not advance, forcing the ability he had poised to unleash to be cut off.

The battle blade slashed out again, its formidable blade intent several degrees stronger than before. Cao Yuwei moved with the blade, man and weapon becoming one as he charged straight at Mei Gongzi.

The Heavenly Secret Plume in Mei Gongzi's hand formed the Heavenly Mysterious Circle once more. With an instantaneous shift, she switched positions. While dispelling her opponent's attack, she also broke his lock-on. In the next instant, she was already somewhere else. A flash of golden-red light passed over Cao Yuwei's body. Had she not dodged quickly, another ability would undoubtedly have descended upon her.

A battle of attrition! It seemed she intended to wear Cao Yuwei down.